Small Edition
by LittleTee
Summary: What kind of havoc will be unleashed when Chloe Sullivan receives the early edition of tomorrow's paper, Today. ** Chapter 5 is now up! **
1. Chapter 1

**_Small Edition_  
**by LittleTee

Rated: K or G... (May get moved up to a higher rating later on.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville. I didn't create the TV show, or had the idea for it either. I'm not selling this for money. So, please don't sue me! Thanks.

Feedback: Yes. Read then Review. Please and thank you. )

Time Period: Season 1. All the events before the episode Nicodemus, have occurred. This is a little A.U.

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic that I've written. Please bear with me if the characters are a little OOC, also if my writing is way weird.

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**Introduction. . .**

What if **_you_** got tomorrow's newspaper today? What would you do? You couldn't call playing the ponies, or buying a Lotto ticket gambling, if you **_knew_** you had the winner. But wouldn't you rather save a life or stop a crime? Become rich beyond belief, or become some kind of hero. . . or, would the choices drive you loony? Find out what happens when a hometown girl receives the early edition of tomorrow's paper, Today.

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**- Chapter 1 -**

The wind blew across the fields of Smallville, causing the grass to sway in a slow moving dance with the wind. The sun rested on the tops of the trees, not yet wanting to set. The streets of this quiet town were peacefully vacant of any signs of human life. The only place where life could be seen was a little coffee shop where the Smallville youth went to drink coffee, be with friends, or just to order Mrs. Kent's famous apple pie. Nevertheless, even the Talon is surprisingly empty this evening.

Across town a tree branch slowly knocks on a second floor window, as a teenage girl sits trying to finish her homework.

"That old tree is driving me crazy," said Chloe Sullivan, bending over her desk with her elbows resting on the wooden surface, pulling at her short blonde hair. Some pages of homework lay across the desk; an open math book lay next to a red notebook. A chewed up pencil pointed out from behind her right ear. Chloe straightened up and picked up her notebook and slammed it close, then threw it back on the desk. "I can't believe that one whole month has passed by, and not one single meteor-freak has tried to kill, harm or injure someone in the Smallville city limits." In one swift movement, Chloe pushed her chair away from her desk and stood up.

"I've had it. I can't do any more homework for at least an hour." She turned around and picked up her coat and purse. "Coffee, here I come," Chloe announced to no one in particular, as she headed out her door, down the steps and through the front door. She raced down her porch steps almost tripping over a candy bar wrapper. Steadying herself, she reached into her pants' pocket to retrieve a set of keys. Chloe smiled to herself as she approach the red and white 1961 Ford Falcon. Okay, maybe it wasn't the newest 'PT-curser' or BMW, and maybe it was over forty years old, but it was all hers from the rear bummer to the front headlights and everything in-between. After opening the drivers' side door, she slid in. The engine came on without a complaint, turning the stirring wheel she pulled the car out into the road.

Chloe reached the small coffee shop, in five minutes flat. Turning the engine off, she opened her side door and stepped out. Chloe's eyes caught sight of a somewhat weather-beaten red truck, that could only belong to one teenage-farm-boy, Clark Kent.

"Oh Great just great," Chloe said, under her breath. She had known that the chances for Clark to be there were very high, definitely, when a girl with the initials L.L. was behind the counter severing coffee. Yet she hadn't really thought it through. Yes, Chloe had needed a caffeine fix so badly, she momentarily forgot the teen-angst that was her life. Chloe turned to get in her car, to drive somewhere anywhere away from there but her stubborn mind won out in the end.

Chloe sighed closing her car door, turning around and started walking towards the entrance of the coffee shop. When Chloe reached the doors, wherein lay the drink/drug that could drown her sorrows in, she took one more breath, to steady herself before entering. Releasing her breath slowly, she pulled the right door open and entered. The smell of hot coffee filled the air of the Talon.

"_Hmm, interesting, usually it's jammed with people_," Chloe observed, walking towards the counter. Clark sat talking with Lana. Lana stood behind the counter smiling at Clark, fluttering her long eyelashes at him. Chloe kept walking right up to the counter. Clark didn't even notice her walk up beside him, he rarely noticed her anymore.

Lana straightened up, noticing Chloe standing there. "Chloe, your usual, right?" Lana asked, smiling.

"Yep, but double it, and in a to go cup." Chloe responded sitting on the stool next to Clark.

"Coming right up," Lana stated, as she turned to fix Chloe's order.

Clark smiled, having a knowing look in his eyes. "Having trouble with Mr. Johnson's Math homework?" He asked taking a drink of his hot cocoa.

Chloe nodded in response. "Yeah, problem number 26 is a real nightmare. Are you taking a break from it too?"

"Nah. I've finished it already," Clark said, shrugging his shoulders.

Chloe just stared at Clark in disbelieve. "Have you been hiding a mathematician under those flannel shirts of yours?"

"No, not really. I just always had a brain for numbers."

"Ah, of course. Why didn't I think of that?" Chloe said slightly kidding with Clark. Lana returned bringing a super-large to-go cup of coffee. "Thanks Lana," Chloe said picking up the warm cup, and placing five bucks on the glass-top counter.

Lana smiled. "Hey, that's why I run a coffee shop. Come back when you need a refill."

"Will do." Chloe turned her chair around, getting ready to get back to her homework. When her cell phone rang, "Excuse me," Chloe said, reaching into her purse and pulling out her red, white and blue cell.

"Chloe here."

"Chlo, it's Pete --"

"What's up?" Chloe said taking a sip of her coffee.

"I heard there's some weird lights near Crater Lake."

Chloe blinked, and placed her coffee down on the counter. "Weird lights, as in, weird UFO lights?"

"Well, I really can't say. I haven't seen them."

"If you haven't seen it, then who has?"

"Uh, he requested that I wouldn't give his name."

"Pete, I won't give his name to anybody, I'm a reporter. I keep my contacts a secret." Taking another sip from her coffee, Chloe stated, "Now tell me, who told you about the weird lights."

Pete looked over at his friend he cupped his left palm over the receiver. "I gotta tell her, Will." Will Baxter looked at Pete for a moment, then he nodded his head yes. Pete sighed, and took his hand away from the receiver. "It's Will."

There was silence as Chloe thought about all the Wills in her school. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "Will Baxter! No way Pete. That Neanderthal already played a trick on me a week ago, I am not falling for it this time."

"He swears it's the truth. He's scared to even go near there, anymore."

Chloe was wavering, "Okay, but you're coming with me."

"I can't, my parents pulled the curfew bit, on me. Saying I can't go anywhere after football practice."

"Hmm, that seems to cover you nicely. Now, I know this is a joke."

"It really isn't, but if you won't listen to me, then fine. . . But, it might be weeks before another meteor-freak decides to go public."

Chloe sighed bringing her left hand to her eyes, trying to rub the in-coming headache away. "Okay, Okay, I'll go check it out. But if this is a joke, I will hunt Will and you down and get you back."


	2. Chapter 2

**- Chapter 2 -**

William Baxter waited 'till Pete left before he pulled out his cell. After a second, the other end of the line clicked on. A soft, muffled and mumbled hello came through the line. Will looked over his shoulder, looking to see if anyone was watching. Smirking he turned back to the call at hand, apparently happy to see that he was, indeed, alone in the small locker room.

"The blonde bird is on her way."

"Very good, you better get back here," A low muffled voice stated, in a somewhat bossy tone.

"I'm on my way." Will waited until he heard a soft click on the other end, before placing his cell back into the inside of his faded army jacket, the kind some people use for deer hunting and similar interests.

---'---

A few minutes later, outside of Crater Lake…

A beam of yellowish light, which generated from the headlights of a 1961 Ford Falcon, drove the shadows that rested on the roads surface back into the darkness from whence it came. The red and white automobile slowed, pulling over and finally parking on the side of the road. A blonde girl stepped out of the car, and closed the door behind her. Turning on a small red flashlight, she slowly started walking towards a patch of pine trees. The gravel cracked and crinkled under the girl's shoes as she walked.

In the distance, a raven crowed at the blonde girl, warning her not to come near her nest. Chloe played no attention to the ill-mannered bird. Then an old grayish, rather large, owl swooped down missing Chloe's face by mere inches. A squeal came from a small gray mouse that still dangled from the owl's talons. The rodent's eyes sent a silent plea for help. Before Chloe could react, both the hunter and his prey were gone into the mist of the dying twilight. "I should've let Clark, come along," Chloe barely whispered, glancing around her.

At that exact moment a single twig snapped, causing countless birds flying out of their roost, for the coming evening. The young reporter flashed the beam that flowed from her trusty red flashlight over to some brushwood. "Who's there?" Chloe called, still keeping her green eyes on the brush where, she believed, the sound generated from.

After seconds pass without any movement or answer coming from the shadows. Chloe looked thoughtful, her reporter instincts kicking on. She made a mental-note to herself to be on the look out, for a possible practical joker. She faked breathing a sigh of relief, in case anyone was watching.  
"At least this is more interesting and entertaining than homework," Chloe thought to herself, walking deeper into the woods.

'---'

An owl hooted in the near distance. Chloe looked around, she hadn't seen any weird lights since she had arrived. There was little doubt about it--this was a hoax. The freshmen reporter turned around ready to walk back to her car, and drive home. She had finished her extra-large cup of coffee on the way there, and she was coming down from her caffeine high. "Great, I've wasted twenty minutes on this wild-goose chase. And for what? Nothing," Chloe said aloud, switching her flashlight off.

"Meow!" An orange marmalade striped and tuxedo-front cat meowed, looking at Chloe with curiosity. He had seemed to appear out of nowhere, and yet it seems he had always been there, maybe before the dawning of time even. The sly feline was resting on the log of an old fallen tree that still had some signs of life. However, the log was beginning to show the signs of death.

"Where did you come from?" Chloe asked the tuxedo-front tabby. The flitting in her chest subsiding. "Are you investigating the lights, as well? If so, it's just a waste of time," Chloe said, smiling at the feline.

The tabby's tale shortly curled into a kind of question mark. He looked at the reporter with big yellowish-orange eyes, as though he seemed to be able to look right into her soul. Finally, as though he had finished studying her, he blinked, cutting his held on her. He yawned while slowly stretching his right paw in front of him, as though he was counting each claw individually. After finishing this act, he arose from his spot on the log slowly walking towards Chloe. Then the tabby somewhat slowed as he passed in-between the blonde's legs. His raccoon-like tale momentarily curled around her leg, he flex his tale slightly tapping against her left ankle. Then he vanished, into the shadows of the other trees.

Chloe blinked at the cat's action, looking down where the cat had tapped her. Instead of seeing the grass and earth, she found an old pocketknife. She looked over her shoulder, to find that the mysterious feline was gone. Only wondering where the tabby went for a moment. Before bending down picking up the only clue that the cat was ever there, studying the pocketknife, as best she could with what little light the moon gave. She turned the little pocketknife over, and as she did this motion, an eerie green glow generated on the side away from Chloe. The green glow slowly began carving into the wood surface. After the green light had finished its small job, it began to fade away only leaving two letters. Chloe finished with her study on one side of the old 'knife, carefully turned the small pocketknife over. Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise, to found her initials carved into the old Swiss-army 'knife. She stared at the two letters in curiosity. The blonde girl hadn't remembered seeing those letters before.

However, before Chloe could finish examining the old knife, a pair of gloved hands reached out from the shadows of a nearby pecan tree. The hands found its target, grabbing Chloe from behind, flinging the knife and her flashlight into the leaf mulch and damp soil a few feet away. The intruder grabbed Chloe's mouth with a gloved hand, as the blonde reporter bucked and kicked, trying to scream. The stranger, bent down slightly, trying to whisper into her ear, and yet trying his best to miss her kicks.

"Chloe it's me, Neanderthal--I mean Will . . . look Chloe try not to make any noise, please there are like, Men in Black all over this patch of woods just over the rise! And, I'm not really a Neanderthal," he finished, releasing his grip on Chloe; she turned around facing him, with anger firing in her green eyes.

"Yeah more Cro-Magnon, if you ask me. What in the blazes are you doing here?" Chloe demanded, in a whispered voice that carried anger, as well as a little fear.

"I talked to Pete. He said that he convinced you to come up here and investigate, but I don't know what's going on. Those guys over there are carrying automatic guns--with silencers even! And, they're wearing some weird kind of sunglasses, maybe goggles even. They have been down on the shore of Crater Lake, walking search patterns for the last five minutes or so."

Chloe looked at Will, placing her hands on her hips. "Look, Will, this sounds like some kind of hoax to me. You did say you would get me back. "

"O.K. miss nosey, you come and see if I'm scamming you! But, for the love of Mike, don't talk or use a light! And keep close to the ground." Will pulled a container from his pocket and poured something into his hand. Taking two fingers of his other hand, he swiftly smeared the goop on her forehead & cheeks. Chloe's right fist dug into his solar plexus, and a loud grunt escaped his lips, as the explosion of air washed out of him.

"What in the. . ." William grabbed both her wrists in one-handed grip. "I'm trying to save our lives! This is commo paint."

"You should've asked me first, before putting anything on my face!" Chloe hissed, trying to pull her wrists out of the lay backers grip.

Ignoring Chloe's statement, he said, "Here, put this on." Letting go of her wrists, he swung his heavy army jacket over her short blonde hair. "This'll protect your rotten hide from scratches." Then as to explain, he continued. "We've got to crawl through briars to get there."

Then before letting her say anything in response, he dropped down on the ground, crawling. Chloe looked around, deciding to follow him anyway. As she had thought earlier that eve, this was more interesting than math.

As Will crawled along the ground, Chloe couldn't help noticing that he seemed to glide rather than crawl. After minutes of crawling on the damp earth, they reached the crest of the small rise. Will looked over at Chloe, putting his forefinger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet.

Chloe stared at him, in amazement. Did he really think that she would stand up, and start doing the hokey-pokey, while singing "Look at me, I have no brains," to boot. Of course, the person in question was a football jock, not a rocket scientist.

"Keep down," Will mouthed to Chloe. She smirked softly at him, while pushing some weeds over with her hand. The blonde-haired girl's eyes grew wide at the sight below her. She had stumbled onto an X-file scenario, near the shore of Crater Lake. Where there appeared to be at least a dozen men in black working, and they were wearing night vision goggles.

"You think I'm scamming you, now?" Will asked Chloe in a whispered tone. Chloe looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying in the same whispered tone. "The jury's still out on that." She reached into her purse to retrieve her digital camera. So she could take a picture of this sight, below her. However, before the camera was halfway up it slipped from Chloe's somewhat damp hands. Chloe stretched trying her best to catch the little digital camera, but it was to no avail. The camera seemed almost happy to escape Chloe's gasp falling down towards the earth below. It seemed to be caught in a kind of dance with the wind, slowing down in spots, and spinning and trilling in others. Finally, it stopped its mid-air dance, landing in some brush below.

Chloe cursed slightly under her breath, as the loud crash echoed out from the point of the camera's impact. She noticed a gawky sandy-haired man, which wore black from head to toe, turn around bringing his gun up, as to aim. The next couple of seconds flew by Will & Chloe in a blur; they didn't see the man pull the trigger of his gun. Nevertheless, they did hear the small deadly bullets cutting through the calm air, and then pierced the leaves of some bushes that surrounded them. . . . . .

_  
Will Chloe & Will be okay? Who are these masked men and what are they doing at Crater Lake? All this and more, when the next chapter of Small Edition, rolls out. Same fanfic channel, same fanfic time._..


	3. Chapter 3

**- Chapter 3 -**

"NO!" Chloe screamed as she sprang forward in her bed. Her breathing was ragged and fast and her chest raised and fell with every breath. Her green eyes hurriedly scanned her surroundings. She was in her bedroom, and it was night.

Pain filled Chloe's body. She looked down at her shirt. Chloe observed a reddish-brown stain that was becoming smaller by the second. She knew that color of stain went only with one thing and that was blood. Chloe quickly pulled up her shirt to reveal a small wound that was quickly healing in front of her eyes. The dim light or lack of it, made it hard for Chloe to tell what kind of wound it was but she had her suspicions. Maybe it was the memory of hunching in bushes and being fired at by mysterious men in really bad black outfits, but she was ninety-eight percent positive that the purplish bruise was caused by a bullet.

Her breath was slower than before but the adrenaline was still pumping. Chloe walked over to her full sized mirror she had pinned to the back of her bedroom door. Her hand nervously tucked a piece of lose hair behind her ear as she looked herself over.

Her appearance was nothing out of the ordinary except that instead of her pajama bottoms and purple tank top, she was wearing her black skirt and sandy top. Her face had smears of a blackish paint that she suspected was camouflage goo, which was smeared on her face by Neanderthal-Man (a.k.a. Will Baxter). Also her hair wasn't in good shape, it had been tossed and teased with trigs of branches and leaves thrown in for good measure.

Chloe ran her teeth over her bottom lip as she thought and added the evidence together. Her appearance was disheveled and the small cuts and bruises that lined her body didn't help any. She ran a hand thru her hair while trying to figure out and sort thru the emotions and questions that was racing around her head.

One question stood out from the rest. **_What had happened?_** One thing Chloe Sullivan knew for sure was it wasn't a dream. The ragged mirrored image of her self was proof enough for that. But then how did she get from Crater Lake to her bedroom? Was she drugged or something, and if so why was she brought back here? Also what had happened to Will, was he alright?

A loud knocking came from behind her. Chloe turned sharply at the loud noise, someone was at her window.

"Who's there?" Chloe called out a in her most steady voice.

Silence was her only answer.

She had a bad feeling about this, she could feel someone or something was out there.

"I know you're out there!" she called again as she slowly inched her way to her old baseball bat. "And I'm armed!" She added as she took the bat into her grasp.

Her only response was a shrill of a meow from behind her closed window. "Meow?" Chloe mouthed as a puzzle expression crossed her face. A picture of an orange striped cat sitting on a log in the woods flashed before her mind's eye. '_Could it be the cat from the woods?_' Chloe thought loosening her vise-like grip on her baseball bat.

She walked over to the window and lifted the curtain to reveal an orange striped tom-cat, the same one she had met in the woods of Crater Lake. Millions of goose bumps sprung up on Chloe's arms, not to mention her spine shivering when the tabby's green eyes pierced into her being.

The blonde felt concerned when a gust of wind tossed the tabby's fur. It looked so cold out and she didn't want the cat to fall to his death, which was possible since her room was on the second floor. She had to let the cat inside where it was warm and safe. Also, she told herself, he may be the key to this whole weird thing. Everything did start after he appeared on that old log.

Without another thought she turned the old lock and lifted the window up opening it for the cat, which seemed to say thank you with his mysterious eyes before jumping down to the thick carpet below. Chloe moved slightly to the side to give the cat enough space, when her feet bumped against something hard. Chloe moved to look at what was on the floor, her eyes widened in surprise and shock to find an old pocket knife.

'_Wait a minute_,' Chloe thought bending down to retrieve the small pen knife. This was the knife from Crater Lake, and to clear away any chance that it wasn't - the eerie letters **C** and **S** was there etched into the wood.

How did this knife get from Crater Lake into her room? Chloe remembered having it tossed from her hand when Will showed up, and if her memory was correct it could've fallen anywhere. Why had this been brought back with her? It certainly wasn't on her person when those men were firing at her.

A slight warm pressure on her leg interrupted her deep thoughts. The feline was rubbing against her leg making a soft purring sound and nudging her foot forward. Chloe looked up when another gust of cool air wrapped around her body. She had forgotten to close the window. Well, it was easily fixable. She had her hands on the window about to slide it close when she saw a newspaper lying on the outer windowsill. She winkled her brow knowing that that paper wasn't there a minute ago.

Then she saw a picture of herself and Will Baxter in her car and they looked anything but alive. Her hands flew through the air and quickly picked up the paper. Her face showed a ballet of different emotions as she read the article about two teenagers killed in a lovers pack, and one of those teens was her.

She paused after reading the last paragraph of the weird and surreal article. Was this a threat of some kind? If so maybe there was a piece of paper saying something like 'Keep your nose out of things or this will happen.' You know the usual warning letters that people send when they feel that someone is getting to close to the truth.

She scanned the paper from front to back searching for a note or a clue to the identity of the sender. Yet the paper was clean. If there had been a threatening note with the paper it had flown away in the wind or had slipped out when someone had climbed the tree to her window. Then she paused as her eyes read the date it was tomorrow's date, or she thought it was tomorrow's. She didn't know if it was still Friday or if she had been out for 24 hours and this was Saturday night. If it was Friday than either someone had goofed or - this was tomorrow's paper.

The ringing of her cell cut off her thoughts. The caller Id was blank except for two words that Chloe had never seen before, Caller Unknown. Chloe flipped her cell up automatically accepting the call. Whoever "Unknown Caller" or "Caller Unknown" was he was one of the few leads she had, and maybe just maybe he would be the one she needed to solve this weird mystery.

"Hello?" Chloe asked placing the newspaper on her night stand.

"Chloe, you're okay -- Thank God," a relieved voice said.

Chloe knew that rich voice anywhere, no pun intended. "**_Lex?_**"

There was a pause on the other end, and Chloe took the silence as a yes. "Why did you think I was in," she paused as the newspaper article floated back to her mind, "trouble?"

"Call it a hunch," Lex remarked as he folded a newspaper and laid it on his desk. "Chloe, we need to talk."


	4. Chapter 4

**- Chapter 4 -**

"Okay lets talk Lex," Chloe replied wondering what the younger Luthor was up to.

"Not now, you can meet me here."

Chloe blinked had Lex Luthor lost it? He was crazy if he thought that she would go into that castle of his, especially before drawn.

"No thanks Mr. Luthor. If we need to talk so badly why can't we just speak over the phone?" Chloe asked Lex, as she began to search though her closet for her first aid kit. Those scrapes and cuts on her arm were really starting to burn.

"If what I have is real then it could be very dangerous. It's safer to meet me here."

"Meet you there? Correct me if I'm wrong but the last time I was there I was thrown out of the second-story window. That doesn't seem safer to me."

"That time I couldn't help that I was being robbed, and I have since upped security."

"Key phase in that sentence, 'I couldn't help that... '."

Lex groaned. Why was she always so stubborn, and why did she bring up those bad memories? He had partly blamed himself for leaving her to take a phone call from his dad. It probably would've ended differently if he had stayed with her and Clark.

"Look Lex I don't blame you for what happened it's just that I would like to skip the big castle of doom right now. I have a giant headache and I've been though the worst night of my life."

"My home isn't the castle of doom, well except when my father visits."

Chloe chuckled. "True, but I still want to skip it. We need to meet somewhere more neutral." And safer, Chloe added silently.

"Okay, where do you suggest we could meet?"

"Ah, found it!" Chloe exclaimed without thinking, when she found her first aid kit.

"Found what?"

"Oh just my first aid kit." Chloe informed Lex.

"Chloe are you hurt?" Lex asked worried. "If you're hurt you need to go to the hospital. It could be serious."

"Funny, Lex you sound a lot like Clark. I hate hospitals, and thanks for the concern but I'm really fine." except for numerous cuts and mud all over my body. Chloe added silently.

Lex wasn't convinced but decided to let it drop for the moment. However, the newspaper article seemed more factual now, if only with the fact that she was hurt in someway. Of course this didn't answer if the newspaper he found that morning was genuine or not. Although he knew that Chloe wasn't a morning person, well according to Clark she wasn't.

"Ow, that stings!" Chloe yelled when she applied some peroxide to a nasty cut on her right hand. "I hate peroxide." Chloe mumbled as she tried to air dry the area with fast jerky movement of her hand.

"I believe everybody does Ms. Sullivan." Lex remarked smirking.

"Ha-ha, very funny Lex. I'm glad my pain was amusing to you." Chloe countered as she blew her starch dry. "Look Lex how about we meet at the Uptown its open."

"The diner?" Lex asked knowing full well what she meant by 'uptown'.

"Yeah its the only place open twenty-four seven around here. Where else could we meet."

"The Talon for one." Lex answered

"The Talon?"

"Yes."

"Lex have you gone mad? The Talon doesn't open to like nine o'clock, and by that time I'll be in school."

"You're forgetting I own the Talon. I can open it anytime I want."

"Hmm, good to know, but no."

"The Talon has coffee. The Uptown doesn't."

"The Uptown does have coffee, just not good coffee."

"Like I said, the Talon has coffee the Uptown doesn't."

"It's the Uptown or nothing." Chloe stated closing her first aid kit with a snap.

"In that case we can meet at the Uptown."

"Good," Chloe couldn't help but smile broadly. "We'll meet in thirty."

* * *

Author's Note: Hey everyone. To keep a very long story short, I am back. Will I be able to stay with writing and updating this time? To be perfectly honest I don't know, but I will try my best. Needless to say I'm not setting an update schedule yet, but I do have three more chapters of Small Edition typed, although unedited. So, if anyone knows of a good beta, please let me know. If you spot any gruesome grammar, or fandom error send me a note, and I'll fix it. Oh, before I forget - since you have read this far _please_ leave a review, and let me know what you thought of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**- Chapter 5 -**

Pete Ross fell from his bed when he was rudely awoken by his cell. Pete clicked on his bed-side lamp and groaned when he noted the time.

"I swear if this is Clark again moping about his unrequited Lana angst..." Pete murmured aloud trailing off when he saw it was Chloe, and not Clark.

"Hey Chloe, what's the story?"

"Hey Pete." Chloe replied automatically. "The story is still in the developing stages, per se. I need your help getting it together."

"Okay, we're meet at the Torch's office between first and second periods and you can tell me all about it." Pete replied yawning.

"Thanks Pete, but I need you to meet me before school at the Uptown Diner."

"Chloe can't this wait to later. Like lunch time, or when the sun is up."

"No it can't. I need your help now." Chloe paused for a moment. "I'll share a by-line with you."

Silence.

"Pete? Did you hear me I said I would share a by-"

"I heard you. I just didn't believe my ears."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"No, I just haven't heard you offer to share your by-line with _anyone _before."

Chloe frowned. Okay, yes she never did like sharing a by-line. She had learned that one can get burned that way, but now she was in need of someone she could trust and was a good reporter. Pete was all of that and more. "Well, that may be, but I'm offering it to you now. Do you want in?"

"Yes, but Chloe you don't have to share a by-line with me. I'm okay if you take the glory or the blame. Just as long as I take the photos."

"You got a deal." Chloe smiled, "We meet at the Uptown in twenty minutes."

"Wait aren't you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Can't don't have the time. Except that time travel, possible murder, and Men-in-Black could be involved. . . also that Lex Luthor will be there."

"Why is Luthor meeting us at the Uptown?"

"Because he's the best lead I have so far, and he sort of set this whole meeting up. Got to go. See ya at the Uptown."

Pete looked at his cell after Chloe disconnected as memorization dawned. How could he meet Chloe and Luthor when he was grounded?

"Great. Just great." Pete muttered under his breath. This was shaping up to be a great day alright. All that was missing was a thunderstorm, and with his luck it would be a gullywasher. Pete only saw one option and that was to beg his mother to lift his grounding. After all Chloe really needed him, especially if she was meeting the young Luthor. He pushed himself to his feet and brushed off his pajamas.

"No time like the present," he quoted aloud as he left to find his mother. Pete wasn't surprised when he saw light coming from the kitchen. Coming from a proud and long line of farmers his parents would rise with the chickens. Even now his mother valued her meditation time every morning with her bible and a big cup of coffee. "Mom?"

"Why aren't you up early this morning." Mrs. Ross commented lending back with her coffee. "Must be one heck of a story Chloe wants your help with."

"How did you know?"

"I'm not deaf yet child. I heard your cell ring and I knew it was either Chloe or Clark." She paused while taking a slip of her coffee. "And, since you're here, and probably about to ask for your grounding to be forgiven, it's safe to say it was Chloe who called and not Clark."

"You got me Mom. Chloe really needs my help."

Mrs. Ross leaned back and hold her coffee mug with both hands. "Well, since you've been good and you didn't try to sneak out this morning tells me you have learned your lesson. Go meet Chloe."

Pete grinned and kissed his mother's check, "Thanks mom."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that was chapter five. Although, the phone conversation with Chloe and Pete was originally part of chapter four that I didn't have to time to edit before I submitted the last chapter. I want to thank the people who reviewed, fav-ed, and put Small Edition on their story alerts since the last chapter. I am still beta-less for this story, so if anyone spots bad grammar or spelling mistakes let me know via PM. As always read and review.


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